Let's play a word game. I'll give a description, and you'll say the first thing that comes to mind. Ready? Porcelain-white, minimalist, 802.11n, some nifty features, others that are inexplicably missing, a tad overpriced at $179 direct. "Sounds like the latest Apple Extreme Base Station 802.lln router," you say? You cheated. You read the same description in our review of the AirPort Extreme Base Station with Gigabit Ethernet, this router's predecessor. It all applies equally to the current iteration of Apple's well-built, reliable router, but Mac devotees who buy the updated box will get two impressive new features: simultaneous dual-band broadcasting and guest access. For networks that are all Mac or even Mac/Windows, it's a sound choice. For wall-to-wall Windows installations, however, you'll get better bang for the buck elsewhere.

Out of the Box
Externally, the AirPort Extreme is identical to its older incarnation: Apple kept the hefty square, gloss-white polycarbonate case, which is easily as stylish as the Belkin N+ Wireless Router (F5D8235-4) or the Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router WNR3500. The same thick rubber pad protects furniture and keeps the router from sliding around. And, as before, the three antennas are hidden within the case, so as not to spoil the router's lines.

Unlike many routers, the AirPort Extreme has no Web interface. That's a bit of a pain, since you must install a setup/management utility on every client machine. Luckily, the Mac OS includes the necessary software. At least the process is quick and easy.

The software's interface is very different from that of non-Apple routers. Installation veterans comfortable with "typical" routers might be a bit thrown at first, but anyone used to the Apple UI style will feel at home. I do think, though, that the utility forces the average user to consider too many technical settings. Few consumers will know what "SNMP port over WAN" means, for example. Your best course is to leave the default settings or shut off features that aren't needed (if you recognize them). The common perception is that Apple products are simpler to set up and use than Windows productsthis is a clear exception. The best Windows routers, such as the Linksys by Cisco Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router WRT320N, hide such arcane terms in the advanced menus, which the average user may never need to see.Next: Good Apple

Good Apple

The new AirPort Extreme supports simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi, which means it can broadcast at 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz at the same timea feature it shares with several Windows routers, including the D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router. You can even give each band its own SSID and name, which I did during testing. That lets legacy devices connect at the lower frequency while more modern equipment can use the less-crowded higher band. On dual-band routers that don't offer this extra ability, such as the Linksys WRT320N, you have to switch manually between bands. Apple's band-segregating is a very cool ability, and one that I haven't seen in many routers. It works really well.

By default, the AirPort Extreme generates a name (unique ID) for you. After you obtain the unique names for the bands, switching between the Wi-Fi connections is as easy as finding the network and connecting to it. You can also manually adjust the transmission power on the router's radios, bolstering the signal when there's interference from other Wi-Fi devices. Or, if you'd rather not broadcast beyond a certain area, you can also cut signal strength. If you don't need the maximum transmission power, lowering it can save electricitya good green benefit.

As with the previous AirPort Extreme, this one lets you extend the reach of your wireless network by chaining together multiple wireless devices. The procedure is simple, extremely powerful, and one that businesses, in particular, can put to good use. You just have to identify your wireless network to the second Apple wireless device (such as another AirPort Extreme or the Apple Time Capsule 1TB, which I recently reviewed), and sign on.

When I tested the feature by combining the network I just created with a previously existing one, the AirPort Extreme automatically realized it was inside a LAN and, as a result, didn't try to generate an internal IP address (which would have conflicted with those the existing network was already creating). The Airport Extreme extended the range of my router by doubling the distance that it normally covers.

Guest access, as mentioned earlier, is another powerful new capability. This lets you give outside usersfriends, customers, and business associates, for exampleaccess to the Internet via your network, but blocks their access to all other network resources. The restricted network gets its own password, and you can set it to allow guests' wireless devices to communicate with each other.

Strong file-sharing support is another benefit of the AirPort Extreme. You can share drives, protect them with passwords, and even access them over the Internet (from Mac clients only) using Bonjour, the Apple program that lets you discover network devices. The router can also limit access if, for example, you want to regulate how much time your children spend on the Web.Next: Bad Apple

Bad Apple

This version certainly improves on its predecessor, but a number of complaints we (and others) had about the previous AirPort Extreme remain. Some, I'd wager, result from Apple's fanatical devotion to high style. So, for example, there are no visible ventilation holes to mar the enclosure, but that makes the device hot, especially on the top.

You'll also find just three LAN ports. That's one less than on any other consumer or SOHO router I've testeda decision made, I'm guessing, to shave off an insignificant amount of case width to make the design square. For many home users, a trio of LAN connectors is plenty. But let's see: Connect your desktop, the Xbox 360, the VoIP phone, and . Uh-oh, where are you going to plug in your networked storage device? Time to buy an Ethernet switch.

The most annoying sacrifice of function on the altar of design hits when you look for link status. The face of the enclosure has just one indicatora power/WAN-connection LED. That gives you info about your Internet connection, but that same quick glance should also disclose problems with your wired Ethernet. Not so with the AirPort Extreme. To check for Internet activity, Apple makes you turn the box aroundthe link lights are on the back. On the plus side, the rear of the case holds a USB port where you can connect a printer, hard drive, or (with a USB hub) both for sharing across the networka very thoughtful extra that few competing products offer.

There's little doubt that this router's extensible wireless, simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi, sharing of multiple USB-connected peripherals, and guest access are all powerful, high-end features. So the AirPort Extreme's lack of features that are commonplace on other routers is all the more puzzling. The absence of a true firewall is just one example. Another example is DDNSit's just not available for Windows users of the AirPort Extreme. Mac users can get it, but only if they pay for a MobileMe subscription. Okay, we all know that Apple can get away with charging loyal customers for extras that competitors give away.Next: Performance

Performance

I used Ixia's IxChariot software to test simultaneous upstream and downstream performance. The IxChariot server connected to the router was a Windows XP SP3 PC driven by a 3-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo backed by 4GB of RAM. The client, a 1.83-GHz RAM HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop with 3GB of RAM, used a USB D-Link DWA-160 network adapter and was running Vista SP1.

The AirPort Extreme has impressive wireless range, and better-than-average throughput, but many 802.11-n routers I evaluated beat it. When I set it up for 2.4-GHz operation and separated it from the client by 3 feet, the router scored 61 megabits per secondtypical for the 2.4-GHz band. The ASUS RT-N11 EZ Wireless N Router clocked in at 86 Mbps at that distance, and I got 93 Mbps with the TP-Link TL-WR941ND Wireless N Router. I clocked the Editors' Choice D-Link DIR-825 at 80 Mbps at 3 feet.

Over a 20-foot separation, the router held steady at 55 Mbps. At 50 feet, the AirPort Extreme really shined. It managed 49 Mbps with the power pumped to 100 percenta good result, considering the distance. That beats the Netgear WNR3500's score at that distance, which was just 38 Mbps. Another Editors' Choice, the D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855) pumped out 133 Mbps.

Operating in the 5-GHz band, the router managed 105 Mbps at 3 feetagain, average for that band. On the same test with the previous version of the router, the device pumped out 93 Mbps at about 5 feet. And, as you'd expect, the router's Gigabit backbone certainly proved to be no bottleneck. Plain old Fast Ethernet LAN ports, such as those on the ASUS RT-11N, do restrict throughput. Again, the D-link DIR-825 also beat the AirPort in this band, with a score of 149 Mbps.

When I moved the laptop to 20 feet, the AirPort pushed through 81 Mbps, which is also average in the 5-GHz band. At 50 feet, the AirPort Extreme performed better than expected, however, with 72 Mbps, indicating that in the 5-GHz band it can perform well at long distances. The D-Link Xtreme DIR-855 scored a whopping 232 Mbps at 20 feet, and 167 to 189 Mbps at 50 feet! But that's a $300-plus router. The more reasonably priced (at $150) D-Link DIR-825 produced 99 Mbps at 20 feet, and 68 Mbps at 50 feet.

The AirPort Extreme Base Station 802.11n is a good wireless router longing to be a great one. It won't be, though, until Apple puts as much emphasis on features and value as it does on design. Users with pure Mac networks get enough capabilities to make this box a worthwhile purchase. Users with mixed Mac and Windows networks don't derive quite as much benefit, but they should still consider the router. It's got some cool features, and it looks great. For the AirPort router to reach its tantalizingly close potential, however, Apple will have to improve its firewall and make the UI friendlier.